Chuck Close was born on 5 July 1940 in Monroe, Washington. He studied art at Everett Community College, Washington (1958-60), and completed his degree at the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1962. He continued his studies at the Yale Graduate School University, New Haven, Connecticut, during 1962-64. In 1964 he was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study for a year at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. On his return he taught at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst (1965-67), and his first solo exhibition was held at the university in 1967. Shortly afterwards Close left for New York, where he began a series of huge black and white portraits which were exhibited at the Bykert Gallery in 1969, and first shown abroad at the Neue Galerie, Aachen, Germany, in 1970. By mid-1970s he began using colour in his portraits. He was now showing his work regularly in group exhibitions, such as Documenta, Kassel, in 1972, and in solo exhibitions such as his 1973 showing at the Museum of modern Art (Projects Gallery), New York. In 1977 his work was included in the exhibition 'Illusion and Reality' which toured Australia, and 'Paris-New York', held at the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. By this time Close had also established himself as a printmaker and photographer. In 1980 the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, held a retrospective exhibition, 'Close Portraits', which toured major centres in the United States. Close was paralysed from the neck down in 1988 but has recovered sufficiently to continue painting from a wheelchair. He lives and works in New York.